I blinked the sleep out of my eyes as I looked up from my cold, hard desk. I felt the reason for my awakening in the form a sharp twang in my left side.

"Scytherrrrr...?" Snappy purred.

I turned a gave my loyal friend a small scratch on his head, which he seemed to nod to show his approval. He started up his wings, and flew away for a second, only to reappear with a box of files from one of the storage rooms. He proceeded to drop the box with a thud on my desk, and look at me as if I had forgotten my homework.

"I know, I know. I'll start working on it," I said rather irritated.

Snappy turned around and hurried off in between some shelves to go work with Casper on organizing all the files I had. I reached into the box he had left for me, and pulled out the first folder, entitled "Bench Manipulation."

My name is Jim. I am from Villa Park, IL and I am 16 years old.

Bench Manipulation

Pokemon (24)

3 Hitmonchan
2 Mr. Mime
3 Mewtwo (Promo)
3 Ghastly (Fossil)
2 Haunter (Fossil)
2 Gengar
3 Abra
2 Kadabra
2 Alakazam
2 Chansey

Energy (25)

7 Fighting Energy
18 Psychic Energy

Trainers (11)

2 Pokemon Center
3 Energy Removal
2 Gust of Wind
2 Plus Power
1 Imposter Professor Oak
1 Professor Oak

I like to mess around with people's benches using Gengar's Pokemon Power and again with Dark Mind. Alakazam allows my own bench to stay at the ready along with the help of Chansey and Pokemon Center. Mewtwo allows for some more heavy artillery on the psychic side. Hitmonchan is good for doing 20 a turn while I build up my bench. He can also dish out more with special punch. I use Imposter Professor Oak to dwindle down people's decks because around here people use a lot of Prof. Oaks, Computer Searches and stuff like that. Energy removal messes a lot of people up around where I play. Plus Power gives that extra umph of power you always need and Gust of Wind bring out the weak guys to finish 'em off. Also, Prof. Oak and Bill allow me to find the cards I need. My deck seems to work pretty well around where I live; I just could use some expert advice. I know my deck has some faults, I just can't seem to find them.

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Pokemon. Well, to be honest, there are way too many Psy weaknesses in this deck. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to remove Alakazam, because he's a big Stage 2, and if I remove Gengar, the entire purpose of the deck is defeated. So, remove the whole Alakazam line. I like that you have Hitmonchan for Colorless, but he's also weak to Psy, so remove one of him as well. Take out a Promo Mewtwo, since you don't have many trainers that allow you to discard energy for a good first-turn absorption. To add more resistance, throw in a Chansey. Man, colorless desperately needs a solid, all-around, 70 HP Basic to cover that pesky Psy weakness. You can you Chansey for now, or Tauros if you feel bold (although I recommend Chansey much much more).

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Trainers. Hmmm. Only a meager 11 in this departemnt. Alright, start by adding 4 Bill, for that curcial card advantage. Replace the Imp. Oak with a regular Professor Oak. Now, exchange the Pokemon Center (you don't have Alakazam anymore, so these don't help much) for 2 Computer Search. Take out the 2 PlusPower for 2 Switch (several high retreats in this deck). Finally, make the addition of another Gust of Wind, another Energy Removal, and 2 Nighttime Garbage Retrievals (great for getting back your evos and energy).

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Energy. Well, you should have 25 slots left for energy. It's tough to combine Chan, Promo Mewtwo, and Gengar (not as much Promo Mewtwo, since he has the ability to absorb), AND fit 4 DCE for Chansey. I think you'll have to stick with 7 Fighting Energy and 18 Psychic Energy. I still am compelled to try and squeeze in 4 DCE, but I don't see what can be sacrificed for those. Oh well, I'll just have to lead a disappointed life ;-) .

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Another look at it:

16 2 2 2 3 2 2 3 19 4 2 2 2 4 3 2 25 18 7

Pokemon: Hitmonchan Movie Promo Mewtwo Mr. Mime Gastly (Fossil, of course, who uses the Base Set one anyway? [this is like an invitation to flood my e-mail with reasons, aint it?]) Haunter (Fossil, see above) Gengar Chansey Trainers: Bill Professor Oak Computer Search Switch Energy Removal Gust of Wind Nighttime Garbage Run Energy: Psychic Energy Fighting Energy

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Alright, I'm going back to sleep. Man, I gotta stop these midnight parties!

~Mercury